Clay kettle and limescale

[solitude]

I finally bought an unglazed ceramic kettle (Lin's, 1.4L) and I am very happy with its performance.

The issue is that the water which I am using is a bit hard and there is some lime scale developing in the kettle. It is quite slow, so it is nothing terrible but it is there.

Does anybody have some advice how to remove it? Is vinegar ok or it can harm the clay?

I don’t really want to switch to soft bottled water since the tap water here (Switzerland) is really good and suits for tea quite well.

Thanks for the advices.

[wyardley]

I would try citric acid over vinegar, but overall, I would just not worry about it, unless the bits of scale in your water are bothering you visually.

If your water is otherwise good, you could consider a carbon filter with some phosphate in it to reduce the scale.

I have this as one of the three filters in my home water filter (though I normally use spring water for tea making).

http://www.purewaterproducts.com/products/fc012

[theredbaron]

I finally bought an unglazed ceramic kettle (Lin's, 1.4L) and I am very happy with its performance.

The issue is that the water which I am using is a bit hard and there is some lime scale developing in the kettle. It is quite slow, so it is nothing terrible but it is there.

Does anybody have some advice how to remove it? Is vinegar ok or it can harm the clay?

I don’t really want to switch to soft bottled water since the tap water here (Switzerland) is really good and suits for tea quite well.

Thanks for the advices.

Have you tried bottled water, and compared it directly with your tap water?
I would definitely NOT use vinegar on your kettle. Vinegar is for salad, not for anything that comes in contact with tea water.

[Tead Off]

I believe the idea of scale being somehow a 'negative' result from certain waters comes from the use of machines that build up scale and interfere with the process of the machine. With espresso machines, manufacturers suggest running vinegar, citric acid, or some other solvent through it at certain intervals to keep the flow of water and pressure steady and to clean a buildup that could affect the taste of the coffee. With kettles, you are not running any 'product' through them except water.

I remember reading an article concerning Japanese kettles (tetsubin) that talked about the natural formation of scale as being natural and desirable. Problems could arise if you changed water and somehow the scale and the new water were not friendly to each other. Then, the matter of removing the scale became an issue and various techniques could be used to get rid of it.

With my electric stainless steel kettle, certain waters would build up scale fast on it and then the process of boiling water became a cacophony of sounds that became very intrusive. Cleaning it would remedy the noise but there was no difference to me in taste or quality of the tea made from it.

[MarshalN]

I wouldn't worry about the limescale at all, unless it starts clogging up your spout and makes your pour problematic.

[solitude]

Thanks to all of you for the comments.

Actually the limesclae doesn’t bother me so I will probably just leave it.
I also noticed that the scale doesn’t really stick to the surface and the majority of it can be removed with a cloth, so I may clean it this way once in a while.
Another possibility which I was thinking about is to use Brita filtered water and mix it with tap water (in a 1:1 ratio or so), this also could solve the problem, will see how does it work with tea.

But anyway, I am glad to hear that limescale is ok for clay kettles

Cheers

[Tead Off]

Thanks to all of you for the comments.

Actually the limesclae doesn’t bother me so I will probably just leave it.
I also noticed that the scale doesn’t really stick to the surface and the majority of it can be removed with a cloth, so I may clean it this way once in a while.
Another possibility which I was thinking about is to use Brita filtered water and mix it with tap water (in a 1:1 ratio or so), this also could solve the problem, will see how does it work with tea.

But anyway, I am glad to hear that limescale is ok for clay kettles

Cheers

I used to use Brita water and then I tested the ph, before and after the filtration. The Brita lowered my ph from 7 to less than 6. When I bought a new filtration system for my tap, the 1st thing I made sure of was that the ph was not lower than 7. I have had no scale and better drinking and tea water than when I used the Brita. Your experience may prove different. I would like to hear if the ph was lowered after you filtered with Brita. I also read other accounts on the web of the same thing happening to other Brita users. These were with their old filters. They have a new line of filters now.